The nomination of a civil-rights lawyer to a top federal post is receiving an angry reception from some top Pennsylvania officials.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Toomey wrote a letter to Senate colleagues Thursday, urging the rejection of Debo Adegbile (DAY'-boh ah-DEG'-beh-lay) as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

Toomey cites Adegbile's work with the NAACP to defend Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther convicted of the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia policeman. He spent nearly 30 years on death row before prosecutors agreed to reduce his sentence to life imprisonment.

Adegbile's nomination is slated for a Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday.

Gov. Tom Corbett also urged that the nomination be rejected and former Gov. Tom Ridge urged the committee to conduct thoughtful and comprehensive review before approving it.